While he’s well on his way in being prolific with one, Nugent-Hopkins just recently endeavored back into the other, purchasing a filly with the intention of racing her in the near future.

“Actually my mom’s dad was huge into it and he used to sell horses and stuff and used to breed them a little bit in Vancouver, at a track called Hastings,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “My mom met my dad and they were both big horseracing fans. So my brother and I kind of grew up at the track.

“Every weekend we’d go and we’d spend a lot of time there, and my grandpa would be there all the time. It was kind of a family thing and it’s something that I’ve done throughout my whole life.”

Before he was born, Nugent-Hopkins’s father, Roger, was an owner with a stake in a number of horses.

“Actually one of his horses was pretty good,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “He was a really good two-year-old, and he won quite a bit of money for him, so that was pretty cool.

“When my brother was born he still used to own part of few horses and then he bred a couple. Once I came along, he stopped with that.”

Being around the track as a kid, Nugent-Hopkins got to know the inner workings of the horse racing game.

After being the first overall pick for the Oilers in the 2011 NHL Draft, then quickly signing a lucrative entry-level contract, he had the financial means to get back into it at an ownership level.

“Two years ago, I bought a horse,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “She hasn’t raced yet, but she’ll race come April or May this year.

“It’s pretty cool, going in the mornings and seeing them go out, they all have to go out and jog around that track. You see all of them working out and everyone is doing their own thing, it’s pretty cool, because I’ve been watching it for so many years. To be behind the scenes is pretty cool.”

Nugent-Hopkins did his due diligence when purchasing his filly, Zenya, currently training in Vancouver. He’s hoping her pedigree will lead to favourable results on the track.

“You can actually go to the track and there will be claiming races, where you can buy a horse after one of the races,” he said. “But the way I did it, which is the way a lot of people do, is we got her at the yearling sales, the horses that are a year old.

“There is a book with all their breeding stuff. My dad knows a lot about it and my dad knows a trainer that helped us out with it. You just look at their breeding and how their mom did and how their dad did and so on. Then you bid on them. It’s a full-on auction. That’s how I got my horse.”

Zenya is expected to take to the track once the thoroughbred season begins on the West Coast. If things don’t work out in Vancouver, Nugent-Hopkins may bring his horse to race in Edmonton.

“Hopefully when the track opens in May she’ll race, but there have actually been some issues getting the track going this year,” he said. “If nothing works out there, then, we’ll bring her to Northlands.”

Never having had a personal stake in a horse in the past, Nugent-Hopkins is eager to see how his investment works out.

It’s one thing to put a wager on a horse as a spectator, it’s another entirely watching as an owner.

“I can imagine it will be pretty stressful seeing how she does,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Right now, it’s a hobby, but it’s something that I really enjoy doing. I don’t know, maybe down the road I can see myself getting into it more seriously.”

It’s not uncommon for players to have interesting hobbies away from the rink. This particular one has Nugent-Hopkins teammates intrigued.

“A lot of them have a lot of questions about it, some of them think it’s pretty cool,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Some of the Europeans say that they’ve been to a few races and a lot of hockey players over there like going and betting on horses. You have to really be around it a lot to get into it. Some guys don’t understand what the point of it is, but it’s something that I’ve grown up with and it’s been a part of my life.”

While he’s well on his way in being prolific with one, Nugent-Hopkins just recently endeavored back into the other, purchasing a filly with the intention of racing her in the near future.

“Actually my mom’s dad was huge into it and he used to sell horses and stuff and used to breed them a little bit in Vancouver, at a track called Hastings,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “My mom met my dad and they were both big horseracing fans. So my brother and I kind of grew up at the track.

“Every weekend we’d go and we’d spend a lot of time there, and my grandpa would be there all the time. It was kind of a family thing and it’s something that I’ve done throughout my whole life.”

Before he was born, Nugent-Hopkins’s father, Roger, was an owner with a stake in a number of horse